Spartan Blades

Curtis Iovito and Mark Carey, Co-Founders of Spartan Blades, LLC, possess over 40 years of combined military service and experience. Since their retirement from US Army Special Forces they have been involved in the development, marketing, and program management of tactical gear and ballistic armor products. For years Curtis has designed and made custom knives for his friends in Special Forces and for other companies. Mark and Curtis have combined their shared love of knife making, military experience and knowledge of the tactical equipment market to form Spartan Blades, LLC with a singular mission:

It is the intent of Spartan Blades to provide the modern warrior and outdoorsman with knives that will serve them in a variety of missions and environments. Our intent is not to provide a cool knife or the next great pry bar, but rather produce a knife that is highly functional, made from only premium materials and techniques that looks great too!

All Spartan knives are manufactured by us in North Carolina with only US origin materials. Our Sheaths are made by US / US veteran owned businesses using only the best US Origin / Berry Amendment compliant materials. Both Mark and Curtis have spent a lifetime in the service of, and working to advance the interests of our country. Spartan Blades will do the same by only manufacturing in the U.S.A. with the highest quality domestically produced materials. Additionally, Spartan Blades utilizes other veteran owned small businesses in meeting our manufacturing mission.

Spartan Blades, LLC is located in Southern Pines, NC just west of Ft Bragg, NC; “Home of the US Army Airborne and Special Forces”.

The Difensa (named for the famous battle fought by the Canadian / US First Special Service Force during WWII in Italy) is an excellent choice for all around field or battlefield use. We and William Harsey were asked to make a knife for a Canadian special operations force that would serve them well in the north woods of their homeland and on worldwide deployments alike. We believe we have met and exceeded their goals, by creating a combat knife that does everything it should. The spear point profile is flat ground with a tapered top edge that provides for an excellent cutting edge with good tip strength and penetration balance. The Difensa's full tang and handle provide for neutral balance in the users hand. The ergonomic and textured canvas Micarta handle was modified from our Model II (no rear jimping), and provides for a comfortable confident grip when wet or dry.

Specifications:

Knife Name: Spartan Harsey Difensa

Designer: William Harsey

Overall Length: 11 5/8"

Blade Length: 6 1/4"

Blade Thickness: 3/16"

Blade Steel: CPM S35VN

Blade Hardness: 59-60 HRC

Blade Style: Spear Point - Flat ground main bevel with tapered top edge.

This small titanium folder is the result of a desire by Spartan Blade to produce a high quality slip joint folder using as few small moving parts as possible. While attending the 2012 IWA Show in Germany, we spoke with several people who simply couldn’t own one of our larger folders due to the restrictions of knives with locks, one handed opening, and long blades. During the show, Mark and Curtis were visiting the Nuremburg Toy Museum and were impressed by some of the very small high-tech mechanisms used to make toys. It was then the idea hit them to make a slip joint that didn’t require several small fine blanked parts, allowing for a more modern look and function than the classic slipjoint. Now they had a great idea but not the full mechanism to make it work.

Later, Spartan met with Les Halpern of Halpern Titanium and explained their idea for a small modern slip joint. He became very excited as he had an idea for a similar knife using what he called “A good idea” for a mechanism. Les did some drawings explaining his idea for eliminating the traditional back spring. Normally, slip joint blades are held in position by a strong "back spring" which assists them with bias to the open or closed position. Les’ idea was to make the frame the spring with the same bias in open or closed position.

This folder eliminates the need for a back spring by using what we call an “Integral Frame Slipjoint”, the dorsal side of the frame is cut to work as a spring and holds a pin that creates a bias to close and open. The blade is opened by pushing on the tab on the blade (it is not a flipper tab!) with one hand and pulling with the thumb and forefinger on the triangle cut-out of the opposite side and hand. Additionally, the pin "locks" into the blade when held firmly by the users thumb and forefinger in in position of use but is free to rotate upon release of the frame handle.

The Spartan-Breed Fighter/Dagger is our first collaboration with knife maker, writer, and retired Green Beret, MSG(R) Kim Breed. The Breed Fighter/Dagger was produced with the goal of creating a sturdy fighter in the spirit of our Special Operations Forces. Daggers have come to symbolize the elite of our military special operations units and agencies since the forming of the OSS. In that spirit, we worked with Kim to create a fighter/dagger that could be used while conducting missions on the modern battle field.The blade allows for deep penetration, all while allowing the user to index the blade by touch and feel. The ergonomic and textured micarta handle is specifically designed with comfort and confidence in of grip.Note: Double edge may be ordered with an unsharpened on top edge to comply with some state and/or local laws, please insure you follow the laws of your state and locality when ordering this knife.